This invention relates generally to vehicular restraint systems and, more particularly, to guide fittings for use in association with an inflatable vehicular safety belt.
It is common for various vehicles, such as automobiles, to incorporate or employ restraint systems in an effort to protect passengers in the event of an emergency such as a vehicular collision. Typical vehicular restraint systems commonly incorporate one or more safety belts, oftentimes referred to as "seat belts," in order to restrain an occupant such as to prevent, reduce or minimize the possibility of the occupant contacting or striking various portions of interior of the vehicle such as the instrument panel, steering wheel, door or the like in a forcible manner.
Common safety belt restraint systems include a lap belt, such as designed to extend over the lap of a seated occupant, and a torso belt such as designed to extend diagonally across the upper torso of a seated occupant. Such restraint systems also commonly include a torso belt retractor mounted on, near or adjacent the door pillar most near the respective door-adjacent front seat occupant. Typically, torso belts are designed to exit the retractor and travel along the associated pillar where the belt extends through a guide fitting supported on the vehicle pillar or the like. The torso belt is then slidably passed through a hole or opening provided in the guide fitting. The guide fitting thus serves to slidably guide and deflect the torso belt diagonally downward across the upper torso of the occupant.
Should the seat belt webbing become twisted in or at such a guide fitting, it may become impossible to apply the webbing correctly. In addition, such twisting may impede slidable (e.g., back-and-forth) movement of the belt through the fitting such as is generally desired to provide increased comfort to a wearer while still providing the desired level of occupant protection. Accordingly, the hole or opening provided in such fittings for the slidable passage of the safety belt therethrough is commonly designed and sized to avoid or prevent the undesired twisting of the associated safety belt.
In practice, safety belts used in such systems have conventionally taken the form of a strip of fibrous webbing. While the use of such safety belts has been generally effective in avoiding or reducing injuries to vehicle occupants, the restraint or protection afforded by such use of safety belts has been subject to certain limitations. For example, in common seat belt apparatuses of this kind, the width of the belt webbing cannot be made very large and therefore comparatively large loads may be undesirably concentrated or focused over a relatively small limited contact area of the belt with the occupant. The concentration or focusing of such loads can, if not otherwise addressed, undesirably result in or increase the possibility of injury to the associated vehicle occupant.
To reduce or minimize the occurrence of such situations, inflatable safety belts have been proposed and developed. Inflatable safety belts typically include the shape or form of an inflatable bag or cushion. Inflatable safety belts are commonly designed, upon actuation, to inflate or expand in a matter of no more than a few milliseconds with an inflation fluid, e.g., a gas, produced or supplied by a device commonly referred to as an inflator. As will be appreciated, upon inflation or expansion of such a safety belt, the kinetic energy of the associated occupant can favorably be distributed over the wider contact area provided by the inflated safety belt. As a consequence of such load dispersal, the possibility of injury to an associated vehicle occupant can be desirably reduced or minimized.
While the use of inflatable safety belts may afford various such advantages, the use of such inflatable safety belts may raise various complications in design and implementation. For example, as set forth above, the size, e.g., thickness, of the guide hole or opening provided in fittings employed with safety belts is commonly restricted or limited such as to avoid or prevent the undesired twisting of the associated safety belt. Consequently, where the safety belt is inflatable, proper or desired inflation of such a belt may be undesirably restricted or limited due to the limited thickness of the belt hole or opening in the guide fitting. For example, the free flow or passage of inflation fluid, e.g., gas, into or through the inflatable safety belt may be restricted by such a guide fitting so as to impair reliable and complete realization of the beneficial utilization of inflatable safety belts in the distribution of loads over the wider contact area provided by the inflated safety belt.
In view of the above, there is a need and a demand for an improved guide fitting for use in association with an inflatable vehicular safety belt.